Why is my house heating unevenly?

Question

I live in a split level home. It contains a basement, and three other stages to the house; The bottom stage (above the basement) being more closed off than the two upper stages. This bottom stage is significantly warmer (by about 8° F) than the two top floors. Since the thermostat is on the middle stage, the two upper levels heat comfortably and the bottom level is very hot.

As far as I know the insulation on the walls are the same on all levels, so I imagine it's the windows. Should I concentrate more on insulating the upper level greater or more on the power of the heating unit on the bottom level? I'm considering the possibility that it's just busted because I believe the upper levels are insulated well.

Answer 1

Well Bill, Rich has the right idea. If you have lots of money to spend you could have someone come out and professionally zone your system by putting thermostats in each roomand motorized dampers for each room. Or you can go shut your registers down there. If they are not adjustable you cna buy them it Lowes or Home depot or something. They are pretty inexpensive and really easy to change. They usually are not air tight and you will get seepage through them which sometimes is still enough air to be too much. You may have to dig a little deeper.
First, most homes are built to a standard, where they put the same size ducting to every register and a register by every window and sometimes door and that is it. There is no planning in what is best for the layout of your home. In my home there is a register in the bathrooms and there is a 8" duct to them. Even if I close the register there is enough air coming through to make the bathrooms really hot. See how easy it would be to access the ducting for that area, if is is not too difficult, look into replacing it with much smaller ducting. Even 4" if possible. You will have to make some changes on the "main" where the duct runs from, but this is also easy and if you go to your nearest do-it-yourself store, they can talk you through it. This will serve two purposes, less air flow to the lower spaces but also increased airflow to the upper spaces.
Checking the insulation properties of your windows is always worth while but I don't think that is the root of your problem.
Hope this helps

Answer 2

Could it be you have more windows on the upper floors that let cool air in? I have a quad level and that's how it is for us. Or make sure all your vents are open on all of the floors. Our basement is the coldest, not only beause heat rises but also because we close the vents down there.

Answer 3

There are soooooooooooooooo many possibility's, but I think its cause your house is out of level. Ya see, if your house is out of level(or plumb,depending on how you look at it) all the heat runs down hill (contrary to popular belief that,"heat rises") .So what ya gotta do is fill the low spots with dirt, and pack it in real good. So ya see, if ya fill that pesky ol hot bottom stage up, thar ya go,problem solved.
Heck, ya can even make the little woman happy and plant some flowers, or something.


(I'm sorry, it's way past my bed time)

Answer 4

If the entire house is on one thermostst, (zone),
than it's entirely normal for the more sheltered
section to be warmer.
Is there any provision for 'throttling` the heat in
the 'too warm` area?
(Vent dampers, radiator valves etc.).
This is called balancing and should have been
part of setting up the system.
If this is a new problem after previous satisfactory
performance, look for heat loss in the upper regions.

Answer 5

Any system has to be properly designed and balanced or that happens. The best solution is a system of dampers and thermostats that send the heat to the required level which is referred to as a zoned system. Another,less expensive, option is using manual dampers that have to be adjusted at the start of the heating and cooling seasons. For more info, check out the ducts page at my source.

Answer 6

one of the problems is the high ceiling ,, the heat rises to top and stays there. you need to use a fan to circulate that hot air down into your room. That is why ceiling fans are made to run in 2 directions . in the summer you make it turn to blow air down on you to make you feel cool. in the winter you turn the fan the opposite direction, this draws air UP against the ceiling and pushes the warm air there down into the room without air blowing on you which would make you feel colder. if you dont have a ceiling fan,, just use some other fan and mount or hang it up in the highest part of ceiling and tilt it to blow air down into the room. this will help. Also , google " how to balance house heating system " your house has been added on to and heat ducting is prob all screwed up :( or missing " air returns " etc . if your room has no " air return " it will not heat properly , especially if you keep the door closed. To see if i am correct . Go get a thermometer and put it on a long stick and put it in highest part of the ceiling and see what temp it is up there.. go do it right now and come back tell us what you found.

Answer 7

it's odd that the lower level is hotter than the upper ones, given that heat rises. you need to get a heating expert in to assess the situation. also ceiling fans help move the air around. you reverse the direction the blades turn in during the colder months to create air currents, instead of blowing downwards.

Answer 8

The Right Answer>
Obviously your home is improperly insulated. If you plan to live there for the rest of your life, then consider spending money on spray on urethane insulation.

It will const you about $4000 to do so, but the money you will save over 30 years will surpass the const.


http://www.spray-foam.com/questions.html

Answer 9

If you have the heating that circulates through the home try closing up some of the registers ... it may take awhile to adjust but it can work.....

Answer 10

def the windows. well usually it depends on how old your house is..Mine is atleast a100 years old. And the windows are even older. if they shake when like your washer is running. Then its def the windows. Try putting plastic on the them during the winter. just staple plastic around the windows. and itll keep ur home nice and toasty.